Pacquiao: 'I'm not against gay people'

On the ropes for recent comments against same-sex marriage, Manny Pacquiao insists he has nothing against gay people — but still believes they shouldn’t be allowed to marry.

“I’m not against gay people,” the boxer and Filipino legislator said in a statement. “I have a relative who is also gay. We can’t help it if they were born that way. What I’m critical of are actions that violate the word of God. I only gave out my opinion that same sex marriage is against the law of God.”

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Pacquiao came under fire after telling Examiner.com that “God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other.” An interview with “Extra TV” scheduled to take place Wednesday at The Grove in Los Angeles was canceled after the shopping center issued a statement saying that Pacquiao “is not welcome at The Grove and will not be interviewed here now or in the future. The Grove is a gathering place for all Angelenos and not a place for intolerance.”

Examiner author Granville Ampong’s suggestion that Pacquiao had cited Leviticus 20:13 — “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads” — was partly to blame for the furor. Blog headlines declared that Pacquiao wanted gay people put to death, to which Ampong responded with a post titled, “Biased writers grossly twisted Pacquiao’s view on same-sex marriage.”

In his statement, Pacquiao said, “I didn’t say that, that’s a lie… I didn’t know that quote from Leviticus because I haven’t read the Book of Leviticus yet.”